There are many similarities but there are also notable differences. Life on Earth is also exposed to constant, non-harmful levels of radiation from radium and radon because of the relative abundance of both elements in the crust. They are also both known to be cancer-causing but have also been used to treat cancer. They are both radioactive and they are both ultimately products of the decay of uranium to lead. Because of the abundance of radium in Earth’s crust, humans and other life forms are constantly exposed to non-harmful levels of radiation from the element. Water from wells and air near factories using fossil fuels also have higher amounts of radium. Workers likely to experience more exposure to radium include miners, particularly uranium miners. Because of this, radium can easily increase the occurrence of cancer, blood problems such as anemia, eye problems such as cataracts, and dental problems. The degree of radioactivity in the element radium is demonstrated by the fact that Marie Curie’s notebooks that she used to study radium are still too radioactive to be safely handled. This is because of the similarity between radium and calcium and the fact that bones contain calcium. In some cases, radium has been used to treat prostate cancer that has spread to bone tissue. This was before it was discovered to be highly radioactive. For example, it was once used on clocks that were designed to be visible in the dark and was even used in toothpaste. Radium, because it can glow was once used to make luminous paints. The isotope of radium with the longest half-life is radium-226 which has a half-life of about 1600 years. It is also the heaviest of the alkaline earth metals and can combine with most nonmetals including nitrogen and oxygen to create rare molecules. It is also the 84 th most common element in Earth’s crust, having an abundance of one part per trillion. It can glow in the dark in its pure form because of its radioactivity. The name of the element comes from the Latin word for “ray,” referring to its radioactivity. The metal in its pure form was first produced in 1911 by Marie Curie and one of her colleagues. They identified the element because it had the capacity to glow. It was first discovered in 1898 by Pierre and Marie Curie in an ore of uranium. Radium is a metal that is part of the uranium-lead decay series. Regions with higher radon content in the country rock may have led to more mutations in the local plant, animal, and microbial life, leading to more mutations and thus more evolution among those populations. Impacts on the history of life on Earthīecause of this, it has been suggested that it may have played an important role in evolution because of the mutagenic effects of the radioactive gas. Although radon is short-lived, it is common enough that it makes up a noticeable part of the background radiation of Earth. In the 20th century, radon gas would be injected into tumors and cancerous cells to destroy them. While radon can be related to causing cancer, it has also been used in the past to treat cancer. This can result in the production of cancerous cells. As radon is inhaled, it also decays into polonium, another radioactive element, which can increase the amount of radioactive material in the body. The abundance of radon depends on the local geology including the abundance of uranium or thorium in the soil. It is strongly associated with occurrences of lung cancer. Since its discovery, it has been found to be a major health hazard.
In 1900, it was officially discovered by Friedrich Ernst Dorn a scientist in Halle, Germany. At the same time, the physicist Ernst Rutherford discovered a radioactive gas being released by thorium in his experiments. Radon was first detected in 1899 by Pierre and Marie Curie as a gas being released by the decay of radium. The longest-lived isotope of radon is radon-222 which has a half-life of 3.8 days. Radon decays into polonium and alpha particles.
Radium and polonium series#
It is part of the decay series in which uranium decays into multiple elements until reaching the stable element, lead. Radon is a radioactive gas that is a byproduct of the decay of radium.
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